[sustran] Plato -- New style flat networking and international cooperation for sustainable development

[Eric Britton]

Plato -- New style flat networking and international cooperation for
sustainable development

Dear Colleagues,

This is to invite you to visit the Plato Forum on the Web at
www.egroups.com/list/plato-forum/ -- a new program that is about to get
underway in support of a new cooperative, action oriented  international
program that thus far has had the support of the European Commission, the
Club of Rome, UNESCO, the Campaign for Open Politics in Europe (COPE) and
The Commons

The first node in the network was created a few weeks ago at the March 1999
Futuroscope Worldwide Symposium, where an ad hoc group of researchers and
participants active in the field of sustainability and technology met in
Poitiers, France, at the instigation of the European Commission, UNESCO and
the Club of Rome. In parallel with the physical meeting, a certain number of
others with long standing interests and involvement in these issues chose to
participate electronically and to follow the discussions at a distance.
During the week, a series of increasingly open sessions eventually attracted
some forty participants from all over the world, who met in the "Plato
Seminar" room (hence the network's name) to discuss problems and
opportunities of global developments and sustainability. At the end of the
week the group agreed to sustain contact and, to this end, to develop the
"Plato Network". In the days immediately following the meeting, a handful of
others, including several of the distance participants, joined the founding
group -- whose further expansion is currently in process.

A major concern is to ensure that from the very beginning this network has
more than just the usual research, publications and occasional meeting
focus.  It is thus not intended as a closed club to serve the interests of
an august few -- but as a thoroughly open, creative, responsible, and
steadily expanding network of people and groups who are trying to advance
both our collective understanding of sustainability, and our specific
individual and group practices in our daily lives.

Have a look and let us know what you think. If you like what you see, and
think that you might be able to bring something to the network and in turn
benefit from participation, consider joining us.  You will note that there
are some fairly efficient devices for keeping you informed of progress, so
you needn't worry about information overload.

With all good wishes,

Eric Britton


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